Out of Rhythm
by lydiamaartin
Summary: Because she is the only girl to make Draco Malfoy dance like a fool, and that has to count for something, right? - DracoAstoria


**Disclaimer: I own one person, and that'll be the only person you don't recognize. Everyone else belongs to JKR. The son belongs to Uncle Kracker.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELODY! This fic is for Melody (w a t e r m e l o n e y e s) – hope you like it! =D**

**Also for Drishti's Song of the Day challenge with the prompts 'ring', 'glitter', 'basket', and the song 'Smile'.**

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**_You make me dance like fool, forget how to breathe  
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee_

When he first looks at Astoria Greengrass, Draco is quite positive that she's a dream.

Daphne had kindly begged her parents to loan their summer house out to her group of friends the year after she and Draco and the others had graduated, to give them some peace and relaxation before facing Death Eater trials and seeing their parents in Azkaban, and so he's now stretched out on a hammock in the backyard, half-asleep and wondering absently what the coming year would bring. Above him, the sun shines, the clouds form funny shapes, and all is peaceful – well, as peaceful as it can get with Pansy and Daphne and Blaise and Theo all in the same house.

(Here's a hint: not very.)

"Draco?" asks someone unfamiliar, the voice light and sweet and feminine and – why is he noticing this so particularly? "Are you awake?"

"Obviously," he drawls automatically. "For if I weren't, I'd hardly be talking to you, would I?"

There's a pause, then a giggle, then the same voice saying, "It's time for lunch."

"Who are you?" Draco asks idly, grey eyes now open but still fixed on the vast blue sky above him.

"Astoria," answers the voice, and he can feel fingers absently curling into the net of the hammock. "Don't you remember me?"

Her name seems familiar. Draco finally forces himself into a sitting position and turns to look at the girl.

The first thing he notices is that she's _really_ pretty.

The second thing is that she's really, _really_ pretty.

The third thing is that she's definitely a dream, because real girls aren't that pretty.

He takes a moment to admire his logic, then another to admit to himself that she is, indeed, real, and then another to come up with the right words to flirt with her.

(Hey, he _is_ a hormonal teenage boy, y'know!)

"Of course I do," he says smoothly, even though he can't remember much more than _Daphne's little sister, met her at some party or the other_. "How could I forget such a pretty face?"

Astoria blinks her disconcertingly green eyes at him. "Um, you _did_. Last year, you sat down at my table in the library and didn't even acknowledge me. In fact, you haven't spoken to me in five years. How can you _remember_ me?"

Draco stares at her, astonished. "I – well – uh, you _asked_. Implying that you thought I _did_ remember you!"

He has to resist the childish urge to add a 'so, there!' to the end of his statement.

Astoria giggles. "I was just checking to see if you were as arrogant as Daphne said you were."

Draco draws himself up in outrage. "I am _not_ arrogant! How dare you – "

She's leaving.

She's _leaving_.

She's _wallking away_ from _Draco Malfoy_.

(And, yeah, she still looks really pretty doing so, but that's not the point, okay?)

"There's a picnic basket on the table over there," she calls over her shoulder, a smile brightening her face. "Hope you like chicken sandwiches!"

He does, as a matter of fact, but he's not going to let her know that. "Hey, wait a minute – get back here! I'm not done with you!"

Astoria doesn't even spare him a second glance.

"Merlin, you're like a bloody clone of your sister!" Draco says in exasperation. "She does the _exact same thing_."

At this, she whirls around, and it's her turn to be outraged. "I am not my sister!"

Draco saunters forward until he's right in her face – if there's one thing he's good at doing, it's picking a fight. "Then prove it."

Astoria sets her hands on her hips. "How?" she demands.

"Have lunch with me," he suggests with a smirk. "Because Daphne would never do that unless she had Theo to flirt with and Pansy to bicker with."

"Fine," she huffs. "I haven't eaten yet, anyway."

Draco grins. "Fantastic, Tori. Can I call you Tori?"

"No."

"I'm going to, anyway, just so you know."

"Daphne was right about you."

"Shut up."

Astoria sits down at the wooden table, looking indignant and amused at the same time, and with the wind blowing her golden curls every which way and her green eyes glittering with laughter, he thinks he's never seen a prettier girl.

"You're rather annoying, you know that?" she tells him conversationally, propping her chin on her hands and her elbows on the table, not even bothering to open the basket.

"Why, thank you," Draco mutters, plopping down opposite her with considerably less grace than he would have used had she been Pansy. "You're too kind."

There's a heartbeat of silence where they just look at each other, grey into green, waiting for the next move in their little battle of wits, when he decides to break it.

"You gonna open that?" he asks her.

"Nope," Astoria answers, her attention no longer focused on him now that he's started talking. He finds that mildly ironic – and insulting. Why isn't she looking at him?

With a huff, hoping to recapture her attention, Draco opens the picnic basket and peers inside. "Want a sandwich, Tori?"

"Don't call me that," she retorts. "My name is Astoria, thanks."

Without actually answering his question or waiting for his retort, she reaches over and picks a sandwich from the basket along with a plate and lays them both in front of her. Draco watches for a moment as she carefully and neatly unwraps the paper and then puts it to the side.

"Daphne was right," he muses. "You are OCD, aren't you?"

Her gaze turns quizzical when she looks back at him (finally!). "How do you even know what that means? It's a muggle term."

"I'm a wizard of many surprises," Draco answers, smirking, and trying to remember how to breathe when her oh-so-green eyes are looking at him _just right_.

Astoria snorts. "I'm sure."

"No, seriously!" he insists, trying not to be too obvious as he watches her bite into her sandwich. "I bet you don't know that I once faked the Cruciatus last year to spare a _Gryffindor_."

She rolls her eyes. "Was it a pureblood?"

He falters. "Um, maybe. Well – you gotta give me credit for that, at least!"

Astoria smiles sweetly at him. "Yes, Draco. You got me. I'm surprised at you."

"Pleasantly surprised, right?" he asks, just to make sure.

"Indeed," she grins at him, teeth pearly white like any proper pureblood girl's – at least she wasn't _too_ much of an anomaly.

"I don't believe you," Draco decides after a momentary staring contest. "You seem like you're patronizing me."

Green eyes widen, too much to be real. "Oh, _really_? That wasn't my intention at _all_!"

He can't help it. A laugh escapes him, despite his best efforts to reel it in. "Shut up!"

Astoria starts giggling. "You're just so…_arrogant_. It's fun to take you down a peg or two."

"At least you're honest," Draco mutters grumpily. "C'mon, what do you want me to do to prove that I can surprise you? Dance like a fool?"

"Sure," she agrees, her smile teasing. "If you can."

He's never been able to resist a challenge.

With another minute-long staring contest, just for good measure, Draco stands up and begins to dance as clumsily as he ever has. He's not normally a bad dancer – he'd grown up taking lessons, of course – but just to prove a point to her, he makes sure his steps are out of rhythm and his arms are flailing about wildly.

Astoria's practically collapsed in laughter, her sandwich forgotten, by the time he stops. "Oh, thank you. Now I can have the honor of saying I'm the only girl to make Draco Malfoy dance like a fool."

"Indeed," Draco drawls with as much dignity as he had left and sat down again. "Now have I surprised you?"

"Sure," Astoria giggles. "You've surprised me."

"Good," says Draco, sparing a moment to wonder why he cared so much about her opinion. "So now we can ea—hey, what's that?"

His attention's caught by something sparkling around her throat – a necklace of some sort, except it doesn't have a locket or charm or anything. Astoria draws it out, a tad bemused, and he sees that it's a ring, a slender band of rose gold with a pearl adorning the center.

"It's pretty," he remarks neutrally, for lack of anything else to say.

"Yeah, my brother gave it to me for my eleventh birthday," Astoria remarks, her voice oddly light, as if there was something she wasn't saying.

"Your brother?" Draco looks at her quizzically. "Alex, right? Alexander Greengrass? What happened to him? I haven't heard of him since he graduated."

Astoria lifts her head, as though challenging him about – _something_, he wasn't quite sure what. "He was disowned because he fell in love with a muggle girl," she tells him, and now he knows why she was challenging him. "I haven't seen him since."

There's an indecipherable emotion in those glittering green eyes of hers, and Draco can't quite pinpoint it – until he realizes her eyes are shining with _tears_.

"I'm sorry," he answers, actually sincere. "That must be awful."

Astoria bends her head over her plate and takes a bite. "You wouldn't know."

Draco hesitates. "Do you want me to dance again?"

For a second, it almost seems like she's going to laugh, but she settles for a smile. "That's all right, thanks. Why don't we just finish this lunch in peace?"

"Sounds good to me," he says lightly, lifting his chicken sandwich and taking a bite. For a long while, there's silence as they both sit there, eating their lunches – but it's comfortable instead of awkward like it would have been with Daphne or Pansy, and Draco has to admit that it's kind of nice.

"Well, I'll see you around," Astoria says when she finishes her sandwich. "This was…" There's a pause. "…nice."

Draco flashes her a grin, mind working through a thousand possiblities from his next words, and says –

"Will you go out with me?"

Astoria, halfway out of the table and ready to leave, whirls back to face him, green eyes still glittering, but this time with surprise. "_What_?"

An image of Pansy swims through Draco's mind, and he shakes his head to clear it. "Um, never mind. I'll see you around, Tori."

She steps away from him, expression thoughtful. "Yeah. See you around."

And then she's gone, and he's pretty sure he's forgotten how to breathe, but there's a smile on his face that probably shouldn't be there, but, hey, what does he care?

Because she _is_ the only girl to make Draco Malfoy dance like a fool, and that has to count for something, right?

_Just the thought of you can drive me wild  
Oh, you make me smile

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**Author's Notes: I do apologize if this seemed a little…all over the place. Probably not my best work, but I really hope you all enjoyed it, at least a little, regardless! If you bothered to read it, please do drop me a review to tell me what you thought! Thanks!**

**And please, for Merlin's sake, don't favorite without reviewing. It's **_**seriously**_** annoying. Thank you.**


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